President Filipe Nyusi said the country's military is fighting ISIL-linked groups in the gas-rich town of Macomia in Cabo Delgado.
Mozambique's army is fighting armed groups that launched a major attack on the northern city of Macomia, President Filipe Nyusi said in a televised address.
The town is in Cabo Delgado, a gas-rich northern province where groups linked to the ISIL (ISIS) group launched an armed uprising in 2017. Despite a large security response, there has been an increase in attacks since January this year .
Two security sources told Reuters news agency that hundreds of fighters are believed to be involved in the latest attack which took place on Friday morning.
“Macomia has been under attack since this morning. The exchange of fire continues,” Nyusi said around 10:00 GMT, adding that the armed group's fighters initially withdrew after about 45 minutes of fighting, but then regrouped and returned.
Friday's attack appeared to be the most serious in the area in some time.
A Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional force, deployed to Mozambique in 2021, began withdrawing last month as its mandate ends in July.
Piers Pigou, head of the Southern Africa Program at the Institute for Security Studies, said the attack on the Macomia district headquarters validates concerns about a security vacuum opening up with the withdrawal of troops from Southern Africa.
“Claims that the province has largely stabilized are clearly not accurate,” he told Reuters.
Nyusi said attacks can occur in such transition periods and he hoped SADC forces could intervene and help. It was unclear if they were still deployed in the area or involved in the fight.
Rwanda has also deployed troops to Mozambique to help combat armed groups.
Figures released by the International Organization for Migration in March show that more than 110,000 people have been displaced since the end of last year, amid an escalation of violence in the province.
The offensive comes as French oil company TotalEnergies seeks to restart a $20 billion liquefied natural gas terminal in Cabo Delgado that was halted in 2021 due to violence. That project is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Macomia, the city under attack.
ExxonMobil, with partner Eni, is also developing an LNG project in northern Mozambique and said last week it was “optimistic and moving forward” as the security situation had improved.
